thisavrou_log | [locked] Heart of glass

[locked] Heart of glass

Who: Trish Walker and Bruce Banner
When: After Trish wakes up from cryo
Where: Science department
What: Trish is really upset to wake up and finding that everything is on fire. Figuratively speaking.
Warnings: Will add if necessary

The rational part of Trish is very well aware of the fact that everything being a giant clusterfuck has absolutely nothing to do with her going into cryo, but there are a few other parts that somehow managed to make her feel guilty about the whole thing all the same, as if somehow she could have stopped it all if she had only been around.

And then there is of course just the giant gut punch that is knowing that Bruce was going to leave her. Sure, he might consider it a noble sacrifice but she really isn't in the mood for seeing it that way at the moment. Not after spending hours watching a cryo tank hoping for him to wake up. Not after being torn from sleep by a sudden need to check that he is still breathing because actually he might not be, she could be snuggled up to a corpse because he died and what if coming back is just some sort of cruel cosmic joke and the punch line is that one day the man she loves is going to be cold and dead with absolutely no explanation given.

Her chest is tight with panic and fear and misplaced guilt, and she hates all of it which means it all transforms into anger, and since that anger has to go somewhere she is currently absolutely furious with Bruce.

Talking to Tony was sort of keeping her grounded, but now she is alone with her thoughts and none of them are pretty.

Their room has been turned to glass, of all fucking things, which in all honesty feels like a too damn suitable metaphor for the state of her relationship. This is what you get for loving heroes. You would've thought that she'd learned that by now. Some lessons just can't seem to stick, apparently.

She spots a piece of paper on one of the bedside tables, and she picks it up, even though she is already quite certain that whatever is written there is not going to help her calm down before she goes to see Bruce.

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"Just as I was starting to think we could cut back on the worrying a bit."

The universe really seems to have some sort of problem with them enjoying physical intimacy with each other.

"I'm sorry."

Not sorry like it's his fault— sorry that this is how things are for them. Again.

"We just... need to go back to taking things slow. For a little while. But that's fine, right? We're fine."

She pulls away from him and wanders over to the nearest available tap to quickly wash her face before returning to him and gently cupping his face in her hands.

"Bruce. Even if we could never have sex again because boners would kill you, we would still be fine."

The sound of the water answers the question as to why she moved away, and he stays put, glassed eyes looking into nothing at all, waiting until she comes back.

"Yes, yes, I know, I remember the whole 'we don't have to have sex' thing. Well guess what? I kind of liked being able to have sex again, so you'll have to excuse me if I don't want to have to stop again."

That makes her laugh, and she leans in to give him a quick kiss.

"I really, really liked you being able to have sex again so you are very much excused."

"Well, good. I was hoping you did."

Not that her reactions ever made him doubt that in the least, of course. She's always been very genuine and vocal (for lack of a better word) about what she likes, so he's very confident that she wants him as much as he wants her.

"We're going to have to find a more decent mattress to sleep in now. The couch isn't nearly enough for the two of us."

"Yeah, that would definitely get far too cuddly."

She sighs and lets her hands drop to his chest, reluctant to stop touching him for any great length of time at the moment.

"We'll make this work. All of it."

Because they have to.

"I know. I know we will."

He's not planning on stopping her anytime soon, honestly. If anything he seems just as unwilling to let go of her.

"You know what else sucks? We have to make do with the tiny bathroom here. Bubble baths are off the table for the foreseeable future."

"Now you're just rubbing salt in my wounds. I guess next you'll be telling me that there's only room for one in the shower."

While she speaks she starts pulling him toward the sofa he'd been trying to sleep on when she came in. It is definitely cuddle time.

"Well... the shower's pretty small, but we can give it a try. See if we can both fit in there."

He lets her guide the way, blindly following after her until they reach the couch, then carefully taking a seat next to her.

"The things we do for love."

She decides that his position just isn't close enough, and so she shifts to sit on his lap.

So she's a little clingy today, sue her.

He wraps his arms around her, more than happy for both the lack of distance between them, and her weight on his lap.

"I know. It'll be such a trying task for me."

Said as if being naked and pressed up against her is a huge sacrifice on his part.

"I'm sorry but you're just going to have to deal. I was in a tank for weeks, there's a lot to make up for here."

Not that she actually remembers those weeks, or even how she ended up in that stupid thing to begin with. There was probably a reason of some sort but... she really couldn't say what it was.

"Yeah, I know. And believe me, it was harder on me than it was on you."

Not criticizing or anything, simply making an observation. The mere fact that she was unconscious and unaware of her own situation meant she didn't have to confront or deal with it, whereas those awake and who cared for her had to suffer through every waking second.

Speaking of.

"Have you seen your sister yet?"

"Yeah, I called her as soon as I was done talking to Tony."

Because she was freaking the hell out and she needed her sister to help the world stop spinning so damn fast.

"Third on the reunion list? Wow. I'm feeling very unimportant right now."

It's more than obvious that he means that as a joke. It's actually good he wasn't the first nor second person she saw, or she'd have been either mad as hell at him, or would've panicked at the mere sight. Possibly a tragic combination of the two.

"Yeah, sorry to break it to you but I kind of barely care about you at all."

It was definitely for the best that she had some time to work off the worst of her emotional turmoil, and the warning about his condition certainly didn't hurt either. So yeah, things worked out for the best there.

He falls quiet for a short while, not really believing those words of course, but taking a moment to lift a hand up and touch her face, fingers tracing the outline of an expression he can't see. His thumb draws up the bridge of her nose, follows the arch of her eyebrow, moving along to the shell of her ear, tucking her hair behind it before the same thumb slides across her cheek again, towards her lips.

God, he misses the sight of her.

"Good thing I care enough for the both of us, then."

And she misses his eyes. The way just one look can tell her how he's feeling. Not that he isn't being plenty clear about that now too. When his thumb reaches her lips she parts them to gently let her teeth graze over the pad of it.

"That's a lot of caring to handle."

"I can handle a lot of things, as you well know."

And how much he cares for her is far from the worst or most difficult, rather the opposite.

He curls his thumb towards her mouth, pad dragging along the sharp edge of her teeth. His other hand moves up to the other side of her face, cupping it and tracing along her jaw, sliding down to her neck.

"I love touching you."

She lets out a long sigh, tension bleeding out of her as her focus narrows down to nothing apart from the familiar feeling of his hands on her skin.

This is what coming home feels like.

"Then don't stop."

"Then I should've locked the door."

Because he's thinking about more than just touching her face, as evidenced by both his words and the slow path his hand takes farther down her neck, thumb sliding underneath her shirt to trace along her collarbone.

"Oh, really?"

Always full of surprises, her Bruce. She wouldn't have expected him to get seductive right now, but with how their relationship tends to work she probably should have.

What? He can touch her just fine without getting excited. Well, too excited. Definitely nothing that would put his especially fragile heart at risk. Probably.

He pops the first button of her shirt open, hand sliding farther underneath the fabric.

"I don't know if you realize this but you were gone for almost a month. That's... a very long time, you know." And right after he just started having sex again, too. "So yes, really."

Probably? He shouldn't mention that to Trish if he wants to keep doing what he's doing.

"Alright then."

She pops a couple of buttons of his shirt too so that she can slide a hand under it and rest it over his heart.

"You'll be okay?"

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